The forgotten history of the women’s 3000 meters Column by Lyn Johnson

There was no re-mile style campaign, but the 3000m race was well and truly back.

So what do you say? Like a mile (and perhaps more so), the 3000 was never far away. He’s been replaced in the 5,000m at the Diamond League meets – and until the final, and even the final in Eugene 2023, for heaven’s sake.

The “long distances” of the World Indoor Championships have been, in fact, throughout the history of the underground event. Portugal’s João Campos and Canada’s Debbie Scott Booker were the champions at the 1985 World Indoor Games, which would be the $64 question on any pub trivia night.

Even further back, the 3000 was one of those odd distances that almost every long-distance runner has attempted at one time or another. The men’s world record was held by Ron Clark and Kip Keino in the 1960s, and by Brendan Foster and Henry Rono in the 1970s; Grete Waitz was one of the first women’s world record holders. Distance running kings all.

We wondered when Daniel Komen lowered the men’s world record to 7:20.67 (less than 59 seconds per lap average) in 1996, and we were flabbergasted when Jakob Ingebrigtsen lowered that number to 7:17.55 just two years ago. We marveled in a different way when Ma’s Wang Junxia set the current women’s world record of 8:06.11 in 1993, a time that still challenges everyone, even Faith Kipyegon who ran 8:07.04 last year.

So, yes, just like the mile, the 3000m never really went away. It is raced frequently and most track and field fans are aware of its importance and what constitutes world-class performance.

Ron Clarke’s world record may have been long lost, but the 3000m was at the forefront of my mind recently when the Australian Championships were held on the revived Hobart Track Classic circuit. Claudia Hollingsworth overcame an excellent field to win the women’s title, and Callum Davies reminded us of his ability and tactical acumen to win the men’s title.

However, if 3000 meters are not dropped off the radar, not all elements of the event history will be remembered equally. Although even remotely rusty fans may have gnashed our teeth as the seven and a half laps replace the 12 and a half on another DL, it’s not the same as ignoring a huge chunk of history. I would argue that this is exactly what we did from the mid-1970s to the 1995 World Championships during which the 3000m was the championship distance for women. Until 1987, it was actually the only women’s distance championship.

When the men who ran World and Olympic athletics grudgingly admitted that women could also take part in marathons, and the classic road distance was opened to women at the 1982 European Championships, the inaugural World Championships in 1983, and finally the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, they somehow balked at making the logical change to equalize the track distance events simultaneously.

Certainly, cramming all three distance events at once might have been difficult, but to compound this difficulty the ‘wise’ bosses decided that the women’s track distance would be 3000 metres. Even when the 10,000m came at the next Olympics – 1987 in Rome and 1988 in Seoul – it would not be until Gothenburg in 1995 and Atlanta in 1996 that the 5,000m would replace the 3,000m.

Amid all this hesitation, the history of those interim years has not only diminished, but also been somewhat lost. Which is a shame, because there were so many great moments. Let’s remember some of them and the Australian women who played a role.

First, let’s not forget that this too-slow adoption of the full range of distances has cost many women their best chance at making the Olympic teams. Australian women went to the World Cross Country Championships in 1975 (and its predecessor, the ICCU Championships, in 1970). This was the generation of Angie Cook, Lynn Williams, Jaylen Close, Anne Lord, Rhonda Mallinder and many others. Some got their chance later with the adoption of longer distances, but until the 1978 Commonwealth Games the longest distance available for women was 1,500 metres.

There was a great 3000 meter race championship. The first Olympic race over the distance was a crusher. Mary Decker Slaney won the 1500/3000 double in Helsinki the previous year. South African-born teenager Zola Budd won her right to an English passport just before the Los Angeles Games. They clashed — literally — in the Olympic final, falling into a tangle of legs when Decker Slaney tried to push from inside Bud.

Decker-Slaney was unable to continue, and Budd faced ill-considered boos from some in the crowd, but she never regained her composure as Maresica Buica of Romania raced to her first Olympic gold medal in the women’s 3,000 metres. Although Budd won the next two World Tours in cross country, this turned out to be her best and only Olympic gold medalist.

World Athletics, then known as the International Association of Athletics Federations, organized a world 3000m event and another new event for women, the 400 hurdles, in 1980. Australia did not send a representative to the 3000m but did send Angie Cook to the 1977 World Cup (finishing fifth) and then won selection for the Edmonton Commonwealth Games the following year (sixth). From then until Los Angeles, the only representative to run the 3000 was Megan Sloan in Brisbane in 1982.

South Australian youngster Donna Gould has been on the rise at the Los Angeles Olympics. She did not reach the final but set the U20 junior record of 8:44.1 in the mixed race in the pre-Olympic competition. Gould went on to represent Australia in road cycling at the 1988 Seoul Games.

The 1980s were topped off by Krishna Stanton’s performance when he finished fourth in the 3,000 meters at the 1987 World Indoor Championships in Indianapolis. Stanton was less than 0.5 seconds behind bronze medalist (and Los Angeles Olympic champion) Boyka in a race won by Soviet athlete Tatiana Samolenko from teammate Olga Bondarenko.

Excluding Gould’s mixed race time, Stanton’s time of 8:48.38 was the fastest by an Australian until Benita Willis ran 8:42.75 – again at the World Indoor Championships – in 2001. Other notable 3000 performers of the era include Susie Power, Caroline Schwallow and Sharon Dalton.

Recently, with more repeat opportunities, the all-time national list has been revised significantly with eight of the top 10 performers achieving their best time since the start of 2024. Georgia Griffiths, Jess Hall and Linden Hall lead the way as the only three Australian women under 8:30. After her win in Hobart, Claudia Hollingsworth will join them, perhaps as soon as her next race.

All this is happening under our noses. But we should not forget the pioneers, nor those who did not have the opportunity when 3,000 meters was the longest distance women could run on the track.